Elements
by Vicki-Boo
Summary: Danny, Lindsay and Hawkes are at a scene when things go VERY wrong... Post RND... i suck at summaries... sorry! Please read and review though!


**A/N – okay! I'm not giving up on **_**'Quarantine'**_** or anything, but I'm suffering a bit of writers block on that – and then this piece popped into my head...**

**It's going to be multi-chap too, and unlike Quarantine, I've got this planned a bit, so I hope it makes more sense!**

**Enjoy... I hope!**

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**Chapter One**

Hawkes was gone. That was it. Just gone...

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

He, Lindsay and Danny were working a crime scene together. There'd been an atmosphere from the onset. Danny kept trying to make conversation with Lindsay, who ignored him. After an hour's worth of processing while talking at a metaphoric brick wall, he gave up, drifting into a miserable silence.

Lindsay didn't look miserable, but then she didn't look happy either. She looked exhausted, pulling far too many double shifts by the looks of her... or too many sleepless nights.

Hawkes had dearly wanted to leave them to it, not wanting to be in the uncomfortable presence of them both. However, he was a good person, and a good friend. He instinctively knew that both Danny and Lindsay would feel worse if they were alone together, with no one to act as a buffer on the growing silence. And so Hawkes had stayed with them; talking out the case, telling Lindsay about the Broadway production he'd seen a few days previously, and chatting to Danny about the last Mets game.

The three had printed almost every surface of the apartment, and were ready to go back to the lab. They walked down to the SUV which they'd shared on the very short journey from the crime lab, and briefly stopped to talk to the uniformed officer who'd been on the scene with them.

Lindsay and Danny were both still uncharacteristically quiet, eyes on the floor, their feet, the building around them; in short, anywhere but each other.

Hawkes finally decided to leave them alone for a while, and so had purposely forgotten to sign the sticker across the door of the crime scene. He was just about to mention going back and signing it, when Officer Bellamy made the point first.

Nervously glancing at Lindsay out the corner of his eye, then letting it slip towards Sheldon, Danny guessed the Doctor's next move. He spoke up fast,

"Uh... that's ok. I'll go sign it now, Bellamy. Thanks."

With a hurried look over his shoulder back at his two colleagues, Danny re-entered the building, obviously glad to have avoided yet more awkward silences.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Danny had barely made it up two of the five flights of stairs when he heard strange noises. First it was tyres screeching, and then doors slamming. A few moments later, Danny was sprinting back towards the small parking lot where he'd left his friends. Hawkes had cried out in what sounded like intense pain, giving Danny a huge burst of adrenaline, surging him down the stairs at a record pace.

He didn't think he could run any faster, and yet Danny proved himself wrong just seconds later, after hearing Lindsay cry just one word.

"Danny!"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It took quite a bit to scare Detective Danny Messer. He faced life and death situations daily; chasing suspects, processing dangerous crime scenes, interrogating psychos... But he could also admit to being terrified many times in his life, most of the time with good reason. At the precise moment he'd heard Lindsay call his name; he decided he'd never been so scared ever before, period.

She may have shouted things multiple times after that, he didn't know. All he could hear was his heart pounding and the blood rushing in his ears as he reached the bottom of the stairs and slammed the door open... The scene before him scared him too.

A large blue van was parked close by, its back doors flung open. Inside, a dirty mattress could just be seen on the floor.

Hawkes was struggling against two men who were attempting to hold a white cloth over his mouth and nose. Try as he might, they had him pinned against a wall, punching him, kicking him... It was two against one; Sheldon couldn't do much to defend himself.

Lindsay was trying hard too. She was being crushed against the floor by a huge mountain of a man, who was easily pinning her down. He needed just one of his large hands to hold both her wrists down, and he used his overpowering body weight to conquer the rest of her petite form.

As Danny had flung the door open, all three assailants had looked up, startled by the sudden noise. Lindsay took the opportunity to ram her knee up hard, catching her attacker where she knew she could hurt him most.

The man quickly doubled up, crying out in pain – she'd hit him hard. He twisted sideways, giving Lindsay room to roll over and start crawling away. Danny saw a gun lying quite far away that looked like hers. Presumably, she'd had it knocked out of her hand.

Upon seeing Lindsay's gun, Danny immediately reached for his own, moving forwards, not sure who to threaten or shoot first. Before Danny could process any further thoughts, a blow to the back of the head sent him crashing to the ground, his gun going flying, probably much like Lindsay's did.

"_Four?? There are four of them? Where did that last one come from? ...must have been behind the door"_

Danny's first coherent thoughts were quickly followed by a series of smooth, flowing actions. He'd fallen forwards, and he flipped over and rose to his feet in one rapid movement, in time to see the fourth man coming straight at him... with Danny's gun in his hand.

Danny assessed his current situation in seconds. He was unarmed, with some head case pointing a gun at him. Hawkes looked like he was being knocked out with chloroform and Lindsay... Lindsay was sparring with Hulk Hogan's body double.

He had his back to her, couldn't see what was happening with Lindsay _or_ Hawkes. That worried Danny deeply. He had to take care of his attacker fast, and with no weapon, he could see only one way of doing so.

Looking over the man's shoulder, Danny pointed and yelled.

"Oh my God!"

As the man turned to see what Danny was pointing at – a brick wall – Danny threw every ounce of his strength into a punch that connected with his jaw. The blow sent him reeling, dropping the gun, which then skimmed right underneath a dumpster and out of reach.

As the man stumbled backwards, he tripped and fell, hitting his head on the dumpster as he did so. Knocking himself clean out.

Had Danny not been so surprised at how easy the guy went down, he might have smiled to himself over his own sheer dumb luck. As it was, he simply ensured the guy was out cold, turned around and looked for his friends. Hawkes and his attackers were nowhere to be seen, but 'Hulk Hogan' had recovered enough to stop Lindsay reaching her gun.

Although unarmed once more, Danny began racing towards them. The man was huge, and Danny was unsure of just _how_ he could overpower him. But he'd try his damned best, even if it meant the guy kicked the crap out of him long enough for Lindsay to grab a gun, or get herself the hell away. He'd rather take twenty beatings than let her take one.

Just as he was thinking how far he'd go to protect her, Danny saw her get punched full on in the face. Twice. The man was yelling insults at her two, cursing her for kicking him like she did.

The pure rage built up inside Danny made him feel as though he would explode. He found it despicable for a man to ever raise his hand to a woman, especially with the force and malice that this guy had just used. But more than anything, that was _his Montana_.

Danny had picked up the trash can lid that lay on the floor near the dumpster. He swung it down upon Lindsay's attacker with more force than he knew he had. This guy wouldn't know what had hit him.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A few minutes later, the man was dazed to say the least. After using the trashcan lid to bash him around the head until the brink of unconsciousness, Danny had tossed it aside. He was now using his fists, pummelling the guy's face, which was now bloody and swollen, his nose prominently broken.

He looked up to check on Lindsay. She'd dragged herself clear of the two, sitting against the wall beside the dumpster while dialling her cell phone with trembling hands. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he knew she'd be calling Mac. She wouldn't waste time on a 911 call, Mac and Stella would get here in the blink of an eye.

As she hung up, Lindsay looked across at him, still punching the almost unconscious man around the head and face. She was about to say something to him, until she interrupted herself, eyes wide in shock and fear.

"Danny... look out... behind you!"

The two men who'd been taking care of Hawkes had reappeared... with the former M.E nowhere in sight. They both pulled out knives. One retrieved Danny's former attacker, slumped against the dumpster, still unconscious. He dragged him into the van and returned again.

"Now you listen to me ya scumbag cop... we weren't supposed to use these... no one was supposed to get hurt. But if you don't step away from him right now... I'm gonna slice up your girlfriend real good... you won't even recognise that pretty little face..."

Danny said nothing, but stood up and backed away from the man now nearly unconscious man upon the ground. Silently, he moved until he was standing between Lindsay and the men. One of them had crouched beside the badly beaten guy, while the other stayed upright, pointing his knife menacingly towards Danny.

The large man stood up slowly, his posture no longer resembling Hulk, with his friend supporting him and almost buckling under his weight. He was unsteady on his feet, but before he allowed himself to be guided back to their van, he turned clumsily and spat in Danny's face.

Danny just stood still, and calmly used his sleeve to wipe his cheek clean. As angry and wired up as he may have been, there was a large knife pointed in his face; Danny wasn't about to do anything stupid that would endanger himself, or more importantly, Lindsay.

As the large man was helped away, staggering and clearly disorientated, Danny stole a glance at Lindsay. Her hand and most of her arm had disappeared underneath the dumpster, yet her eyes were locked on him.

They'd had problems recently, major problems, but they could still guess each other's thoughts. She needed a few more moments, Danny had to distract the remaining assailant.

"What have you done with our colleagues? The CSI and the cop?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough. You see, I've had enough of the rough housing. You two are gonna do as you're told and get in the van, and we won't have to hurt you any more ...will we? Your girlfriend might need a hand... she got busted pretty bad. But I'm gonna be nice, you know? I'll let you help her up... you can even hold her hand in the van. But you're gonna do it NOW!"

Danny looked towards Lindsay again. He wished she'd hurry up. They were running out of time. Just then, an echo of sirens filled the parking lot, announcing the arrival of help.

The men in the van yelled for the last man to leave Danny and Lindsay, and just get the hell out of there.

The man looked conflicted... looking back and forth like a rabbit in headlights. In the second he began to run towards the dirty van, Lindsay felt her hands finally find their target. She grasped the cold metal in her small, shaking hands and pulled it out.

She didn't want to shoot anyone, but for Sheldon's sake she had to. She aimed and pulled the trigger of Danny's gun, closing her eyes as the man hit the ground.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Danny breathed a sigh of relief when he'd heard the sirens, and an even bigger one when he'd realised Lindsay had found his gun. For a moment, he'd been scared that the van would get away with the attackers and also Sheldon in it, but then the last man had hit the ground. It appeared Lindsay had got him in the leg.

Danny couldn't help but feel better when he saw the man go down... it was like confirmation that he, Lindsay and Sheldon were all going to be okay. And it sounded as though Mac was nearly here, so the assailants wouldn't get far either.

But the people in the van clearly didn't have a problem with leaving one of their own. Danny stared in disbelief as it screeched away seconds later, with Sheldon inside still inside.

He looked down at Lindsay, blood gently dripping down her beautiful face, her hair tussled, clothes crumpled and torn. She was still shaking.

He was stuck in utter disbelief, trying to process what had happened in the space on ten minutes. He bent down to her, all the while just grateful that she was still there with him. Unlike Hawkes.

Hawkes was gone. That was it. Just gone...

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**A/N – reviews, as ever, are very much welcome and greatly appreciated! :D**


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